Anime

I've noticed that there are threads here dedicated to manga and animation in general, but not anime specifically.

So, let's talk about it.

To start off, my personal favorite and source of my avatar at the time of this post, Texhnolyze (2003). Never have I seen such visceral nihilism so poignantly executed in any visual form. It should be of great interest to TLOers. The full series subbed is available for stream on Hulu and Funimation's YouTube channel.

Texhnolyze (Opening) - YouTube

TEXHNOLYZE ending song - YouTube

[ToALonelyPeace]

I am glad you make this thread, though I don't know how much I can contribute to it I'm not much of a watcher because my eyes hurt if I watch something more than 30 min. Reading manga and text are much easier for me. That's why I have probably read more than a 1000 manga, but watch less than 10 anime.

Texhnolyze is indeed impressive. The music echoes a lonely and decaying world, and yet the style is not just strings and Latin moaning like other soundtracks. There are music of clear droplets of twilight

TEXHNOLYZE Soundtrack: A Flower Without A Glimmer Of Hope - YouTube

and then there are sound of a coming train full of potent disasters

TEXHNOLYZE Soundtrack: Threat And Temptation - YouTube

The art is also partly inspired by Edward Hopper, as you compare these frames

I'm quite the opposite; I watch more anime than read manga (I need to read more, especially Junji Ito and what I've not read of Berserk).

All of ABe's projects have excellent soundtracks. Haibane Renmei, which I'm watching now, utilizes mostly strings and piano to create soothing yet utterly ethereal melodies that complement the tone and imagery of the series perfectly. I recommend the show as well; starts slow but picks up fast once you dig into the subtext and your emotions are toyed with.

Haibane Renmei - Hanenone - Fading - YouTube

Haibane Renmei - Hanenone - Blight - YouTube

I never did make the connection between those shots and Hopper, but then again I was never really acquainted with Hopper's work.

[ToALonelyPeace]

Thanks for the recommendation. I will try to watch it. The problem with my disposition is that I often don't finish anime I started, no matter how much I like them. I haven't finished Serial Experiments Lain since 4 years ago...

The latest anime I finished was Yami Shibai, a series of short urban legends and stories made in card-board/paper style. They were about 3-5 minutes each, so I managed to get through them relatively smoothly.



I admire Edward Hopper, but I didn't make the connection till after I read this post Art and Architecture of Texhnolyze | Ha Neul Seom

Neon Genesis Evangelion is my world. All the reasons people hate it are why I love it. The hero who is an anxious and depressed broken soul, crushed by self-pity and ego, who doesn't enjoy his life. The abstract, ambiguous and bizarre collage finale. The strange Christian symbolism. The bombastic avant-garde End of Evangelion with its beautiful armageddon. I can't believe this show even got made. It's genius. For those who haven't seen it, I will sum it up in describing it as if Power Rangers slowly turned into a Lars von Trier movie.

Evangelion would be my second favorite.

If Criterion would start releasing TV shows, they must re-release Evangelion. It desperately needs one.

This song, from The End of Evangelion, coupled with things I was feeling at the time, made me associate "Hey Jude" by The Beatles with suicide.

Komm, susser Tod With Lyrics The End of Evangelion OST 11 HQ www bajaryoutube com - YouTube

[trieffiewiles]

Well, here are a few oldies, I would also highly recommend Shigurui Death Frenzy, Mushishi, and Serial Experiments: Lain, off the top of my head.

Alas you have to sign in to youtube to view any of the latter, which makes no sense as Lain and especially Mushishi have little in the way of provocative content, whereas a few of these available vids definitely seem to.

Demon City - Shinjuku - remastered - full movie - YouTube

Ninja Scroll 1993 720p - YouTube

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust - YouTube

AKIRA 1988 HD 1 - YouTube

In slightly belated observance of the 133rd anniversary of Kafka's birth, a short 2007 anime adaptation of "A Country Doctor", directed by Koji Yamamura.

A Country Doctor - YouTube

[ToALonelyPeace]

I finished Haibane Renmei recently. It was much better than I imagined. Somehow, I got the impression it was a school harem deconstruction and hence never approached it before.
Though I was irked by the Christian 'sin' aspect, I liked the atmosphere, music, and characters. Thanks for the recommendation.

I bought the recently released Funimation blu-ray + DVD combo of Wolf's Rain. It somewhat resembles Texhnolyze with its foreboding atmosphere and grim apocalyptic ending, but it has more mythical influence and diverse natural terrain, rather than a uniformly bleak urban landscape. It is 30 episodes with the OVA, but I recommend skipping episodes 15-18 since they are unnecessary recaps.

It's primarily centered around four wolves that possess the capability of disguising themselves as humans. The series depicts their journey within a dystopian, cyberpunk world to find "paradise". Along their way, they become enamored by the scent of the "flower maiden", a being engineered from "lunar flowers" who is claimed to open the gateway to paradise, and she joins the traveling crew. The nature of paradise is never quite explicated until the end, and during their journey, they are tailed by a detective, scientist, and bounty hunter who have read "The Book of the Moon", a book detailing how during a blood red moon the world will be reborn through the opening of paradise via wolves and the flower maiden (note, don't want to spoil too much). However, advanced humanoid aliens called Nobles rule over man and desire both the flower maiden and wolves for a sacrificial ritual to achieve their own greedy objectives.

Throughout the wolves' journey, we come to learn more about their pasts, and how each wolf distinctively imagines what paradise to be. One of my favorite scenes involved the flower maiden sitting amid the sleeping four wolves as she pet them and they dreamt of their own idyllic, individualized worlds, except for one of the four wolves that had none (i.e., the striving, alone, is what he seemed to care for). Many of the episodes are allegorical of themes pertaining to the personal search for meaning.

Unlike Texhnolyze, the tragic ending in Wolf's Rain is Nietzschean in that there is an affirmation of the futility in striving for paradise, giving it melancholic beauty.

Wolf's Rain is written by the same woman responsible for Cowboy Bebop's story. The characterization is just as good as Cowboy Bebop, but the themes of Wolf's Rain resonate with me more.

My only issue is some of the romance subplots could become a bit excessive, but they don't detract too much from the overall pacing. I give it a 9/10. Personally, I enjoyed it more than both Neon Genesis Evangelion and Texhnolyze, for it felt sublime and subtle with its themes.

Here's a better review:
Wolf's Rain BD+DVD - Review - Anime News Network

Wolfs Rain OST - Rakuen - YouTube

Also, I like wolves.